The Guardian: ecco l’Abu Ghraib degli inglesi
venerdì, 5 Novembre, 2010Ecco l’Abu Graib degli inglesi. Stessi metodi degli americani. Un video sul “Guardian” mostra i metodi bestiali usati dai militari inglesi in Iraq (sopra un’immagine). Oggi sul giornale inglese Guardian del 5.11.2010, il video è su http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/05/interrogation-techniques-iraq-inmates
Interrogation techniques at ‘Britain’s Abu Ghraib’ revealed
Video showing brutal mistreatment is submitted during high court proceedings brought by former Iraqi inmates
guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 November 2010 12.17 GMT
Evidence of systematic and brutal mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at a secret British military interrogation centre that is being described as the UK’s Abu Ghraib emerged today during high court proceedings brought by more than 200 former inmates.
The court was informed that there is evidence detainees were starved, deprived of sleep, subjected to sensory deprivation and threatened with execution at the shadowy facilities near Basra operated by the Joint Forces Interrogation Team (JFIT).
It also received allegations that JFIT’s prisoners were beaten and forced to kneel in stressful positions for up to 30 hours at a time, and that some were subjected to electric shocks. Some of the prisoners say they were subjected to sexual humiliation by female soldiers, while others allege that they were held for days in cells as small as one metre square.
The evidence of abuse is emerging just weeks after defence officials admitted that British soldiers and airmen are suspected of being responsible for the murder and manslaughter of a number of Iraqi civilians in addition to the high-profile case of Baha Mousa, the hotel receptionist tortured to death by troops in September 2003. One man is alleged to have been kicked to death aboard an RAF helicopter, while two others died after being held for questioning.
Last month, the Guardian disclosed that for several years after the death of Mousa, the British military continued training interrogators in techniques that include threats, sensory deprivation and enforced nakedness, in an apparent breach of the Geneva conventions. Trainee interrogators were told that they should aim to provoke humiliation, disorientation, exhaustion, anxiety and fear in the prisoners they are questioning.
Lawyers representing the former JFIT inmates now argue that there needs to be a public inquiry to establish the extent of the mistreatment, and to discover at which point ultimate responsibility lies, along the chain of military command and political oversight. Today’s hearing marked the start of a judicial review intended to force the establishment of an inquiry. Michael Fordham QC, for the former inmates, said: “It needs to get at the truth of what happened in all these cases. It needs to deal with the systemic issues that arise out of them, and it needs to deal with the lessons to be learned.”
Fordham said the question needs to be asked: “Is this Britain’s Abu Ghraib?”
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is resisting an inquiry, however. In a statement to the Commons on Monday, Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat armed forces minister, said the MoD should be allowed to investigate the matter itself, adding: “A costly public inquiry would be unable to investigate individual criminal behaviour or impose punishments. Any such inquiry would arguably therefore not be in the best interests of the individual complainants who have raised these allegations.”
Harvey said an inquiry would not be ruled out, “should serious and systemic issues” emerge as a result of the MoD’s own investigations.
Among the most startling evidence submitted to the high court in London today were two videos showing the interrogation of a suspected insurgent who was taken prisoner in Basra in April 2007 and questioned about a mortar attack on a British base.
The recordings – among 1,253 made by the interrogators themselves – show this man being forced to stand to attention while two soldiers scream abuse at him and threaten him with execution. They ignore his complaints that he is not being allowed to sleep and that he has had nothing to eat or drink for two days. At the end of each session, he is forced to don a pair of blackened goggles, ear muffs are placed over his head, and he is ordered to place the palms of his hands together so that a guard can grasp his thumbs to lead him away.
At the end of one session, an interrogator can be heard ordering the guard to “rough the fucker off”, or possibly “knock the fucker off”. The guard then runs down a corridor, dragging the prisoner behind him by his thumbs. This man’s lawyers say he was then severely beaten: they allege that the initial blows, and their client’s moans, can be heard faintly at the end of the video.
An investigation by the army in January 2008, which examined just six cases of alleged abuse by British troops, described them as cause for “professional humility”, but concluded that such incidents were not “endemic”. However, the report did not address the possibility that some mistreatment was systematic, with those responsible acting under orders and in accordance with a pre-war training regime that called for repeated use of abusive techniques.
Responding to today’s hearing, Brigadier John Donnelly of the MOD’s Judicial Engagement Policy department, said in a statement: “These are unproven allegations. We have set up the dedicated Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) to investigate them as quickly and thoroughly as possible. The IHAT is headed by an independent former CID officer.
“The IHAT is the most effective way of investigating these unproven allegations – to establish their truth or otherwise, identify any action that needs to be taken, including dealing with any connected or systemic issues and, should it uncover criminal behaviour, provide the proper means to deal with it. In our view a costly new public inquiry is not necessary or appropriate. “It would be unable to investigate individual criminal behaviour or impose punishments and will not serve the interest of fair and expeditious justice.”
tagged under: Iraq- Appuntamenti (45)
- Best (136)
- Cultura (95)
- Fotografia (26)
- Internet-Media (108)
- Lettere (20)
- Libri (25)
- Mondo (2.247)
- Ndrangheta (4)
- Politica (192)
- Società (3.530)
-
andrea
Flavia Perina in questa prosa che filtra cose a lei scomode (Elena Pacinelli) e amplifica particolari insignificanti (presnuto gramscianesimo della… -
Alessandro Londero
Salve, se Paolo Brogi avesse richiamato magari avrebbe potuto avere più info di quel viaggio. Ora che l’ONU ha fatto… -
Geneva
Hi there to every body, it's my first visit of this blog; this webpage consists of awesome and in fact…
- Aprile 2022
- Marzo 2022
- Febbraio 2022
- Gennaio 2022
- Dicembre 2021
- Novembre 2021
- Ottobre 2021
- Maggio 2021
- Marzo 2021
- Febbraio 2021
- Gennaio 2021
- Dicembre 2020
- Settembre 2020
- Maggio 2020
- Aprile 2020
- Marzo 2020
- Febbraio 2020
- Giugno 2019
- Maggio 2019
- Aprile 2019
- Marzo 2019
- Gennaio 2019
- Novembre 2018
- Ottobre 2018
- Settembre 2018
- Agosto 2018
- Giugno 2018
- Maggio 2018
- Marzo 2018
- Febbraio 2018
- Gennaio 2018
- Novembre 2017
- Ottobre 2017
- Maggio 2017
- Aprile 2017
- Marzo 2017
- Febbraio 2017
- Gennaio 2017
- Dicembre 2016
- Novembre 2016
- Ottobre 2016
- Settembre 2016
- Agosto 2016
- Luglio 2016
- Giugno 2016
- Maggio 2016
- Aprile 2016
- Marzo 2016
- Febbraio 2016
- Gennaio 2016
- Dicembre 2015
- Novembre 2015
- Ottobre 2015
- Settembre 2015
- Agosto 2015
- Luglio 2015
- Giugno 2015
- Maggio 2015
- Aprile 2015
- Marzo 2015
- Febbraio 2015
- Gennaio 2015
- Dicembre 2014
- Novembre 2014
- Ottobre 2014
- Settembre 2014
- Agosto 2014
- Luglio 2014
- Giugno 2014
- Maggio 2014
- Aprile 2014
- Marzo 2014
- Febbraio 2014
- Gennaio 2014
- Dicembre 2013
- Novembre 2013
- Ottobre 2013
- Settembre 2013
- Agosto 2013
- Luglio 2013
- Giugno 2013
- Maggio 2013
- Aprile 2013
- Marzo 2013
- Febbraio 2013
- Gennaio 2013
- Dicembre 2012
- Novembre 2012
- Ottobre 2012
- Settembre 2012
- Agosto 2012
- Luglio 2012
- Giugno 2012
- Maggio 2012
- Aprile 2012
- Marzo 2012
- Febbraio 2012
- Gennaio 2012
- Dicembre 2011
- Novembre 2011
- Ottobre 2011
- Settembre 2011
- Agosto 2011
- Luglio 2011
- Giugno 2011
- Maggio 2011
- Aprile 2011
- Marzo 2011
- Febbraio 2011
- Gennaio 2011
- Dicembre 2010
- Novembre 2010
- Ottobre 2010
- Settembre 2010
- Agosto 2010
- Luglio 2010
- Giugno 2010
- Maggio 2010
- Aprile 2010
- Marzo 2010
- Febbraio 2010
- Gennaio 2010